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Discovery: The Origin of Stuff: Wine glass

Magazines & Reviews

Wine Glass

29/06/2020 GMT

Wine glass

The Origin of Stuff

BBC World Service - Discovery, The Origin of Stuff, Wine glass

Katy Brand toasts the wine glass, learning why it became the gargantuan glass it is today

Katy Brand toasts the wine glass and delves into its origins from a dinky little thing to the gargantuan glass it is today.

Have you got one of those wine glasses that can hold an entire bottle of wine? Katy Brand does and she’s even used it for wine - albeit because of a sprained ankle, which would have stopped her from hobbling back and forth to the kitchen for refills.

But if we skip back a few hundred years, the wine glass was tiny. Footmen brought their masters what was essentially a shot glass. They quaffed back their wine in one. So how did we go from those dinky little things to the gargantuan goblets we have today? Is it because letting the wine breathe in a bigger glass makes it smell and taste better? Or is it a reflection of our drinking habits?

Join Katy and the show's resident public historian, Greg Jenner, is glass expert Russell Hand from Sheffield University and Barry Smith, Director for the Study of the Senses at London University.

Producer: Graihagh Jackson

Picture: Wine glass, Credit: Albina Kosenko/Getty Images

Discovery: The Origin of Stuff

Katy Brand explores the origins of stuff.

Katy Brand explores the life of the toothbrush. Despite its humble start as a tooth cleaning stick, she reveals how ingenuity and innovation have ensured its place in our lives.

What is the most personal item you own - one you don’t want anyone else using?
 
For Katy Brand it’s her toothbrush. So how did the toothbrush become one of life’s essentials?
 
With the help of public historian, Greg Jenner, Katy goes back to ancient times, when the toothbrush was merely a stick. But the brush, as we know it, only came into being much later when a convict spied a broom in his cell and had a bright idea.
 
But how has ingenuity and innovation shaped the toothbrush and ensured its place in our lives? And given most are plastic, how environmentally friendly is the toothbrush’s legacy?
 
Featuring designer and toothbrush collector, Sophie Thomas, and advocate for clean teeth, Peter Dyer, Chair of Hospital Dentists at the British Dental Association.

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